Italy's Altra Sede tower rising high
17 February 2010
Construction of the Altra Sede di Regione Lombardia, the new administrative centre for Lombardy's regional administration in Milan, Italy, is progressing rapidly.
The complex's two high-rise towers will eventually reach 161 m-high, higher than any other building in the country and main contractor Consorzio Torre is using Doka's formwork to meet the strict construction schedule.
The reinforced concrete structure actually consists of two intersecting 42-storey towers. Each storey has a footprint of 1000 m², with floor heights of 3,6 to 7,2 m.
The concrete core is being poured in a weekly cycle using Doka SKE 50 automatic climbing formwork and 930 m² of its Top 50 large-area formwork.
The crane-independent SKE 50 system is a single-unit climbing scaffold, with brackets and automatic climbers that can be freely positioned, allowing casting heights of up to 5,5 m and loads of 5 tonnes per bracket.
Once the concrete has reached a compressive strength of 10 MPa, the formwork can be jumped onto the next concreting step, which, depending on environmental conditions, can be as early as one day after pouring.
The SKE 50 self-climbing system consists of a main working platform and a pouring platform. It is also equipped with two suspended platforms for manipulating the automatic climbers and concrete finishing operations.
Complex floor plan
The slabs of the building are cast in-situ using the Dokamatic table system. The preassembled floor tables are designed for fast forming operations on large-area projects, according to the company, and help save on labour costs and crane time.
Using the "shifting trolley", one man can move up to 12,5 m² of formwork and accessories to the next casting point. To lift the tableforms between storeys without a crane the contractors have opted for two Doka Table Lifting Systems (TLS).
Lifting at 10 m per second the TLS saves valuable crane time speeding up the entire construction workflow. The Dokamatic table system allows all positioning and stripping operations from the floor, increasing safety for workers on the site.
Safety at height
With safety paramount on the site Consorzio Torre is using Doka's Xclimb 60 protection screen, which totally enclosures the top three storeys of the building and can be jumped in by crane or independent hydraulic units in units of 130 m².
With a city centre location the site is cramped and space on the ground is at a premium, so no formwork is assembly on site. Doka's local Italian office delivers pre-assembled and ready-to-use formwork units.
